I visited 2 Washington burns yesterday and thought I would share a quick update to hopefully save some of you the drive.
The Sourdough burn near Diablo Lake on HWY 20 is very difficult to access. Roads and trails near the burn are closed according to the National Park website. I don’t know if this also means that walking in the forest adjacent to the roads/trails is also off limits. I contacted the park ranger to confirm but waiting to hear back.
I accessed the burn basically parking along hwy 20 and walking straight uphill. I chose the easiest area I could, and it was still quite steep. There are less steep options but they are a decent walk from the closest access point outside of the closure.
I also stopped by the Huckleberry Flats burn along the Suiattle River near Darrington. This area clearly had lots of recent activity. I found just a few morels in the 90 minutes I spent walking this burn. I didn’t see any young pins so I think the potential for a decent flush by this weekend is minimal. This is a very small burn and likely to get another crowd this weekend.
I did find this cute cluster at Huckleberry Flats
My recommendation for this weekend is to:
– search for more remote burns
– look for naturals in non-burn areas
– go take a long walk in a beautiful forest somewhere and keep your eyes peeled for any other mushrooms you might encounter.